Frank Darabont Explains The Walking Dead Exit & L.A. Noir

In his first proper interview since getting the boot from AMC‘s The Walking Dead, Frank Darabont shares his feelings about the exit, including why he feels he had “no choice” at an outcome that left him feeling like a narrator observing his own death. He also talks about his new project with TNT, L.A. Noir.

Darabont told TV Guide how L.A Noir came about:

I’ve loved noir my whole life, and I’ve always wanted to go into that area of storytelling. I’m a huge Raymond Chandler buff, which is actually why I grabbed this book off the shelf at LAX in the bookstore as I was about to get on a flight. It seemed right up my alley. I read it on the flight, and then the following day after I couldn’t put the darn thing down. When I got back from that trip I called my agent to find out if the rights were available and word came back to me that the rights were with [former New Line president] Mike De Luca, whom I’ve known since 1986. So I called Mike and said, “What are you thinking of doing with this?” He said “I don’t know, you want to do something with me?” And boom, it was that easy.
The strange confluence of good fortune extended beyond that because Mike had a meeting to go in and talk to Michael Wright at TNT, and no sooner had this come out of his mouth that Michael said, “I want this.” It’s a book he had read because he’s also obsessed with this era and this genre. He knew the book intimately and was quoting from it in this meeting. It should always be this easy. It’s not always, but this has been great.

On the focus of L.A. Noir and its central characters:

That’s going to be the fun of doing this, to invent that tapestry of characters. The very first character I came up with, an invention of mine, is a character named Joe Teague, who was on the police force. And he’s caught in that moral gray zone between the William Parkers of the world and the Mickey Cohens of this world. And what a great, fun gray zone to be in. Caught, as he puts it, between the white hats and the black hats.

On striking a balance between real-life and fictional events:

I think that’s yet to be determined. I’ve focused on writing the pilot script and I’ve got some sort of long-range arcs in my head, what would comprise the first season. Certainly Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel and William Parker will be vital components of that. But where exactly the mix lands, that’s work yet to be done. Joe Teague is the lead of the pilot, he will be a good way to step into this world. And what’s a good noir without a great noir dame? I definitely have in mind a very, very nice, complicated girlfriend for Joe. It’s not quite a meet-cute scenario but they’re definitely going to have some heat to it I think.

On the value of long-form storytelling:

I love the oblique nature of how stories can be told [on television]. Rather than jamming everything you want to say into a two and a half hour movie, you go, “OK, this year we’re making an eight-hour movie.” We don’t have to get to the point right away. We can hint at it. We can come through the backdoor, keep the audience intrigued by something. It’s completely different because you can come at it from a completely different, sneakier angle or perspective and that’s really fun.

In a clear dig at AMC, Darabont says he’s looking forward to working with his ‘respectful’ partners at TNT:

They are by all accounts a fantastic place to work. They treat their creative partners with respect and dignity and humanity and integrity, and after the last two years I’m really looking forward to experiencing those things.

L.A. Noir is slated to begin shooting in April.

THE WALKING DEAD

Here’s what Darabont had to say about his much-talked about, yet not officially explained, departure from the zombie serial:

It was, for the sake of my cast and my crew, a tremendously regretful thing to face, to have to leave. But I was really given no choice. I don’t understand the thinking behind, “Oh, this is the most successful show in the history of basic cable. Let’s gut the budgets now.” I never did understand that and I think they got tired of hearing me complain about it. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s as far as I want to go with it because otherwise it’s just provoking more controversy and that’s not really of interest to me. I just want to keep my head down and do my job and be allowed to do my job, that’s key, and continue to, hopefully, enjoy it and do good work.

On the cast:

These people are like family to me. It has not been easy for anybody. Let me put it that way: It was like a death in the family. Only I was the dead guy. I felt like William Holden, face down in the swimming pool, narrating this thing.

Source TV Guide

Frank Darabont On His Season 2 Walking Dead Opener That Never Was

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Tagged as: frank darabont, interviews, la noir, The Walking Dead